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iPhone X Water Damage - Switch Logic Boards?

B

b1055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
181
10
Hi,

I have two iPhone X, one has a bunch of pictures from a recent vacation in which I had no connectivity, wifi, cellular or otherwise -- and therefore has no backup. That iPhone X has water damage and does not power on. The other iPhone X is brand new and fully functional.

I have torndown (carefully) the damaged iPhone X and have discovered there is no (visible) water damage on the logicboard. Is it technically possible to switch the logicboards to recover the pictures/data from the damaged iPhone? I'd be switching water damaged iPhone logicboard to the functional iPhone under the assumption that the issue with the damaged iPhone is not to do with the logicboard -- and that logicboards arent somehow tied to other hardware components on the iPhone.

Note that I understand this would void all warranties and break the (alleged) water resitant nature of the functional iPhone.

Thanks
 
Borja1055 said:
Hi,

I have two iPhone X, one has a bunch of pictures from a recent vacation in which I had no connectivity, wifi, cellular or otherwise -- and therefore has no backup. That iPhone X has water damage and does not power on. The other iPhone X is brand new and fully functional.

I have torndown (carefully) the damaged iPhone X and have discovered there is no (visible) water damage on the logicboard. Is it technically possible to switch the logicboards to recover the pictures/data from the damaged iPhone? I'd be switching water damaged iPhone logicboard to the functional iPhone under the assumption that the issue with the damaged iPhone is not to do with the logicboard -- and that logicboards arent somehow tied to other hardware components on the iPhone.

Note that I understand this would void all warranties and break the (alleged) water resitant nature of the functional iPhone.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Won't fix the issue. The problem IS the logic board. Switching would not help and would only create lots of unnecessary work. There are a few repair places that could probably fix it for around $250/$300. My recently deceased mom's iPhone one day, wouldn't turn on. I wasn't able to back it up and obviously, wanted to save what was on it. Sent it in, the company fixed a power issue on the board and sent it back. Worked as it should, backed up and sold it. Still kicking to this day. Was a year and a half ago.
 
AbSoluTc said:
Won't fix the issue. The problem IS the logic board. Switching would not help and would only create lots of unnecessary work. There are a few repair places that could probably fix it for around $250/$300. My recently deceased mom's iPhone one day, wouldn't turn on. I wasn't able to back it up and obviously, wanted to save what was on it. Sent it in, the company fixed a power issue on the board and sent it back. Worked as it should, backed up and sold it. Still kicking to this day. Was a year and a half ago.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the helpful response -- can you recommend the company you used for your issue? I may still try the switch as it is pretty easy to get to the logic board as long as there is no software lock.
 
Borja1055 said:
Hi,

I have two iPhone X, one has a bunch of pictures from a recent vacation in which I had no connectivity, wifi, cellular or otherwise -- and therefore has no backup. That iPhone X has water damage and does not power on. The other iPhone X is brand new and fully functional.

I have torndown (carefully) the damaged iPhone X and have discovered there is no (visible) water damage on the logicboard. Is it technically possible to switch the logicboards to recover the pictures/data from the damaged iPhone? I'd be switching water damaged iPhone logicboard to the functional iPhone under the assumption that the issue with the damaged iPhone is not to do with the logicboard -- and that logicboards arent somehow tied to other hardware components on the iPhone.

Note that I understand this would void all warranties and break the (alleged) water resitant nature of the functional iPhone.

Thanks
Click to expand...

What was the nature of the water damage?
I have an iPhone 5s that had some significant water damage caused by an unfortunate incident involving a small fishing boat and a pond. I tried a variety of ways to dry it out and eventually got it to boot up enough to back up to my laptop. There was some lint in the lightning connector that kept it from charging when it got wet. I had to use a USB camera adapter with a wired keyboard to punch in my passcode because the screen didn't work on one of the numbers I needed.
 
BenK01 said:
What was the nature of the water damage?
I have an iPhone 5s that had some significant water damage caused by an unfortunate incident involving a small fishing boat and a pond. I tried a variety of ways to dry it out and eventually got it to boot up enough to back up to my laptop. There was some lint in the lightning connector that kept it from charging when it got wet. I had to use a USB camera adapter with a wired keyboard to punch in my passcode because the screen didn't work on one of the numbers I needed.
Click to expand...
Hi Ben. i used the phone to record a video in a coral reef....so salt water damage. Thought the iPhone X was supposed to be water proof up to 1m. Oh well. Dumb decision.
 
Borja1055 said:
Hi Ben. i used the phone to record a video in a coral reef....so salt water damage. Thought the iPhone X was supposed to be water proof up to 1m. Oh well. Dumb decision.
Click to expand...
It's just water resistant essentially, not water proof.
 
I heard that hey are splash resistant.
[doublepost=1531793130][/doublepost]The splash resistance would protect it presumably while using it in the rain.
 
With salt water damage, the trick is not let the phone dry. Once it dries, the salt settles on the logic board and under components and the corrosion process begins.

Next time, you'll want to get the phone to a repair shop ASAP. They can remove the logic board and clean it with an ultrasonic bath to remove the contaminated liquid before it dries.

Your surgery idea on the iPhone X will likely leave you with two non-working iPhones.

Swapping logic boards isn't a problem. Apple does associate certain identifiers with the logic board and display but this does not affect major functions.
 
JPack said:
With salt water damage, the trick is not let the phone dry. Once it dries, the salt settles on the logic board and under components and the corrosion process begins.

Next time, you'll want to get the phone to a repair shop ASAP. They can remove the logic board and clean it with an ultrasonic bath to remove the contaminated liquid before it dries.

Your surgery idea on the iPhone X will likely leave you with two non-working iPhones.

Swapping logic boards isn't a problem. Apple does associate certain identifiers with the logic board and display but this does not affect major functions.
Click to expand...
Why do you think it would render the functioning phone useless? The switch is straight forward. 7 screws.
 
Borja1055 said:
Why do you think it would render the functioning phone useless? The switch is straight forward. 7 screws.
Click to expand...

There are more than a dozen data and power connectors on the logic board. Personally, I wouldn't want to risk the transfer of any corrosion on the connectors between the two devices.
 
It won’t let you connect to iTunes? Oh and by they way you should’ve took the damaged one to apple and gave them $550 and got a new X vs paying $1000 for another one.
 
borgranta said:
I heard that hey are splash resistant.
[doublepost=1531793130][/doublepost]The splash resistance would protect it presumably while using it in the rain.
Click to expand...

The iPhones has an IP67 water resistant rating, but using it in the rain doesn’t mean there is any ‘guarantee’ of protection at all. That simply what the iPhone is rated for under IEC standards.
 
JPack said:
There are more than a dozen data and power connectors on the logic board. Personally, I wouldn't want to risk the transfer of any corrosion on the connectors between the two devices.
Click to expand...
Makes sense. Didn't think of that.
[doublepost=1531848569][/doublepost]
Brandonjr36 said:
It won’t let you connect to iTunes? Oh and by they way you should’ve took the damaged one to apple and gave them $550 and got a new X vs paying $1000 for another one.
Click to expand...
And thus lose all my pictures? No thanks. If in 14 days I cant recover media I'll return the new phone and perform the swap as you suggested. That's the plan.

I reached out to a few data recovery companies. If anyone has any recommendations they are welcome.
 
Borja1055 said:
Makes sense. Didn't think of that.
[doublepost=1531848569][/doublepost]
And thus lose all my pictures? No thanks. If in 14 days I cant recover media I'll return the new phone and perform the swap as you suggested. That's the plan.

I reached out to a few data recovery companies. If anyone has any recommendations they are welcome.
Click to expand...
You didn’t have iCloud? Even if it wasn’t backed up it will still have pics and contacts on the cloud. It manually does it, I know this cause an Apple senior advisor told me that and I had to go that route. When I backed my moms iPhone up to my computer and the stupid thing put an encrypted password automatically and I didn’t know what it was.
 
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Brandonjr36 said:
You didn’t have iCloud? Even if it wasn’t backed up it will still have pics and contacts on the cloud. It manually does it, I know this cause an Apple senior advisor told me that and I had to go that route. When I backed my moms iPhone up to my computer and the stupid thing put an encrypted password automatically and I didn’t know what it was.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I actually have a QNAP, so whenever im connected to WiFi it autouploads to iCloud and to the QNAP - problem is I was in Fiji with no Wifi nor cellular connection. Unlucky! Phone is on it's way to iPad Rehab. I'll keep this post updated with any progress. If they can't salvage it, I'll give DriveSavers a shot.
 
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Borja1055 said:
Thanks. I actually have a QNAP, so whenever im connected to WiFi it autouploads to iCloud and to the QNAP - problem is I was in Fiji with no Wifi nor cellular connection. Unlucky! Phone is on it's way to iPad Rehab. I'll keep this post updated with any progress. If they can't salvage it, I'll give DriveSavers a shot.
Click to expand...
Now correct me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t it be smarter for them to crack open the messed up X and see if they can just save the data to a computer then put it on your current X so you’re not risking your new X having issues from a faulty board? Not to mention risking the water resistance as well.
 
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Brandonjr36 said:
Now correct me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t it be smarter for them to crack open the messed up X and see if they can just save the data to a computer then put it on your current X so you’re not risking your new X having issues from a faulty board? Not to mention risking the water resistance as well.
Click to expand...
That's the plan!
 
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Is that your phone in the video? It's pretty nice she chose your phone to fix on live stream.
 
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